MO BROOKS

The House panel investigating the Jan_ 6 Capitol insurrection has focused some of its early work on the planning behind a massive rally at which President Donald Trump falsely claimed to have won reelection and told his supporters to “fight like hell.”.

Brooks denied a report which said he helped plan the January 6 'Stop the Steal' rally as the investigation into the Capitol riot heats up.

A number of Republican members of Congress named in a Rolling Stone report as being involved in planning the details of rallies and electoral certification objection on the day of Jan. 6 ahead of the riot at the U.S. Capitol building, either personally or through top staff members, are pushing back on or outright refuting the story.

A federal judge sentenced Troy Smocks, 58, to 14 months in prison for posting violent threats on to Parler on January 6.

Allies of former President Donald Trump are calling those charged in the Jan_ 6 riot at the U_S_ Capitol “political prisoners.”.

Republicans are trying to scare off telecom companies that might have something damning about them.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is asking social media and telecommunications companies to preserve phone or computer records for hundreds of people.

“Tell us you stand with the terrorist without telling us you stand with the terrorist,” a Democratic colleague responded.

The statement quickly drew heated criticism toward Brooks, who voted to overturn the election of President Joe Biden.

As U.S. Capitol Police were negotiating Thursday for the surrender of a suspect who threatened to detonate a truck bomb in front of the Library of Congress, Republican Rep. Mo Brooks issued a statement in which he said he understood "citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism."

High-profile Trump backers in Congress who tried to block President Biden's election win have raked in cash this year. Many of their lesser-known rank-and-file colleagues have not.Why it matters: New campaign finance data underscore a disparity among election objectors. Some have used the infamy to catapult themselves into MAGA stardom. Those who haven't — including some facing competitive 2022 reelection fights — are stuck with all the baggage and little financial benefit.Stay on top of the lat

Brooks said a White House employee asked him to speak at the rally.

GOP Rep. Mo Brooks is seeking immunity from lawsuit over Jan. 6 Capitol attack

When the suspect looked away, the man took the opportunity to quickly speed away from the ATM, but not before his cash was stolen.

The Alabama rep. said he received a warning two days before the insurrection.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy “a moron” on Wednesday in response to a reporter who asked her about McCarthy's suggestion that the decision late Tuesday night by Congress's top physician to reinstate a mask mandate indoors on the House side of the Capitol wasn't based on science. Later at a press conference, Pelosi said, “To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think, is not wise.”

The Justice Department said it inciting an attack on the Capitol, as alleged in the lawsuit against Brooks, falls outside the scope of a lawmakers' employment.

A civil lawsuit accuses Brooks, an Alabama Republican, of helping incite a pro-Trump mob into storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. Named alongside Brooks in the suit is former President Trump and others.

The Justice filing found Brooks failed to establish he was acting "within the scope of his office" when he spoke at a rally prior to the Capitol riot.

Rather than winning over House Republicans, the dramatic testimony delivered during the Jan. 6 select committee's first public hearing led them to double down on their criticism that the investigation is purely political.Why it matters: The remarks signal that regardless of the panel's eventual findings, many Republican lawmakers — most of whom didn't even watch Tuesday's hearing — will dismiss the proceedings as a partisan witch hunt.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights

The Justice Department is considering whether the federal officials who spoke at a Trump rally ahead of the insurrection were acting within the scope of their jobs that day.

But there are lessons to be learned from it.

Alabama congressman amplifies false election claims and invokes deaths of Continental army soldiers at GOP conference

The GOP lawmaker had been evading the lawsuit for months

President Joe Biden has signed legislation Thursday establishing a new federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery, saying he believes it will go down as one of the greatest honors he has as president.

Swalwell's attorney refuted Brooks' allegation that his process server entered the congressman's home without permission.

Republican Katie Boyd Britt entered the race for Alabama’s open U.S. Senate seat Tuesday promising to “put Alabama first” while stressing her experience as the former leader of a state business group and former chief of staff to retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby. Two Republicans are already in the race: Congressman Mo Brooks, who is armed with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, and Lynda Blanchard, a businesswoman who was Trump’s ambassador to Slovenia. Shelby, one of the Senate’s most senior members, announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection in 2022, igniting what is expected to be a messy GOP primary at a time when the national Republican Party is trying to chart a direction following Trump’s departure.

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell is suing Rep. Mo Brooks for incitement over the January 6 Capitol riot.

Swalwell's attorney refuted Brooks' allegation that his process server entered the congressman's home without permission.

Swalwell's attorney refuted Brooks' allegation that his process server entered the congressman's home without permission.

On Sunday, Swalwell attorney Matthew Kaiser said a private investigator left the papers with Brooks' wife at their home in Alabama.

Representatives of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) have finally served a lawsuit that alleges Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and other pro-Trump allies bear responsibility for the Capitol riot, the Republican congressman said Sunday.Why it matters: Swalwell had been trying since March to serve the suit on Brooks. Attorneys for the Democrat said last Wednesday they'd hired a private investigator to locate Brooks.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.What they're saying

Representatives of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) have finally served a lawsuit that alleges Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and other pro-Trump allies bear responsibility for the Capitol riot, the Republican congressman said Sunday.Why it matters: Swalwell had been trying since March to serve the suit on Brooks. Attorneys for the Democrat said last Wednesday they'd hired a private investigator to locate Brooks.Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.What they're saying

Rep. Eric Swalwell is suing former President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, but even a private detective can't find Rep. Mo Brooks to serve him.

Eric Swalwell’s attorneys have tried to find Mo Brooks for two months ‘to no avail’

Attorneys for Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) have hired a private investigator to search for Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) in order to serve a lawsuit that alleges he and other pro-Trump allies bear responsibility for the Capitol riot.Driving the news: That's according to a court filing by Swalwell's attorneys Wednesday claiming that Brooks is avoiding being served the suit, with their calls and emails going unanswered.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Su

Republican leaders of Congress have been making the trip to Mar-a-Lago to see Donald Trump.

Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama’s 2022 Senate race, siding with the conservative firebrand who whipped up the crowd before the Capitol riot in January.

Brooks jumped into the race at an event on Monday with Stephen Miller, a former adviser to Mr. Trump. And as President Trump can vouch, I don't cut and run. Like Brooks, Greitens also amplified the false claim that Mr. Trump won the 2020 election. Hawley told reporters on Tuesday that he had spoken to Mr. Trump about the race. "I think he probably won't be involved," Hawley said about whether he believed Mr. Trump would endorse Greitens in the primary.

The north Alabama Republican announced his entry into the race at an event with former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. And as President Trump can vouch, I don't cut and run. “Nobody has had President Trump’s back more over the last four years than Mo Brooks. Your vote for Mo Brooks will allow him to carry on the America First agenda," Miller said as he gave his support to Brooks. Some carried signs reading “Traitor Mo has got to go” and that “Mo Brooks words incited violence."

In this image from video, House impeachment manager Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., speaks during the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021. Swalwell's attorney Philip Andonian praised Thompson’s lawsuit, filed under a Reconstruction-era law called the Ku Klux Klan Act, and said they were behind it 100%, but saw the need for this one, too. “We see ourselves as having a different angle to this, holding Trump accountable for the incitement, the disinformation,” he said. But the lawsuit, like the one by Thompson, was brought against Trump in his personal, not official, capacity. “Unable to accept defeat, Donald Trump waged an all out war on a peaceful transition of power,” Swalwell said in a statement.

Impeachment manager Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is seen during a break on the third day of the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on Thursday, February 11, 2021. Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the House prosecutors during Donald Trump's second impeachment trial, filed a lawsuit Friday against the former president, alleging he incited the deadly invasion of the U.S. Capitol. Trump Jr., Giuliani and Brooks also spoke at the "Stop the Steal" rally. The managers had made the same argument in Trump's second impeachment trial, much of which centered around whether it was constitutional to convict a former president. Read Swalwell's legal complaint against Trump, Trump Jr., Giuliani and Brooks:

Trump himself is headlining the three-day session in a Sunday speech that will be his first public appearance since leaving the White House on Jan. 20. Trump has been keeping a relatively low profile since he moved from the White House to Palm Beach a month ago. “I think the broader point will be: Here's where the Republican Party and conservative movement and the America First movement goes from here," said senior Trump adviser Jason Miller. Here we’ll see the president address the fact that the only divide in the Republican Party is between the elites and the conservative grassroots in the party." “In opposition, when you don’t have the White House, there are many more voices that lead the party,” Cotton said in an interview.

FILE-In this Jan. 29, 2005, file photo, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., speaks during the panel "A Reality Check on the US Economy" at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Shelby is the fourth Senate Republican to announce his retirement, following Sens. “Few people have had a more consequential impact on our state than Senator Richard Shelby,” said Alabama Gov. Leahy said Alabama was losing a “strong champion.”“A fifth-generation Alabamian, Senator Shelby is a true statesmen, and a man of his word. Brooks said he will either run for reelection to his own seat or the Senate seat in 2022.

“I would say that is his greatest accomplishment, to get money allocated to the state for many different projects,” former Alabama Republican Party Chairman Bill Armistead said. Still, the GOP primary could serve as a microcosm of the larger national tug of war over the direction of the Republican Party. While Shelby has amassed a conservative voting record, the measured Republican senator has not embraced the bombastic populist style of Trump and Trump-like candidates. I don’t think there is anyone who has meant more to the state of Alabama in that position in my lifetime,” former Gov. ___This story has been edited to correct that Bill Armistead is the former chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine sits for an interview in his office at One Judiciary Square on Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Washington, DC. Karl Racine also left open the door to prosecuting President Trump himself for the same conduct once he leaves office later this month. "Let's just say first, those were outrageous comments that those individuals, including the president of the United States made," Racine said. "Whether that comes to a legal complaint, I think we've got to really dig in and get all of the facts. I know I'm looking at a charge under the D.C. Code of inciting violence, and that would apply where there's a clear recognition that one's incitement could lead to foreseeable violence," the attorney general said.

Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. Minutes later, Pence was taken from the Senate chamber to a secret location and police announced the lockdown of the Capitol. Even before the mob reached sealed doors of the House chamber, Capitol Police pulled Pelosi away from the podium, she told “60 Minutes.”“I said, ‘No, I want to be here,’”she said. Back in the House chamber, a woman in the balcony was seen and heard screaming. When they breached the abandoned Senate chamber, they milled around, rummaged through papers, sat at desks and took videos and pictures.

Minutes later, Pence was taken from the Senate chamber to a secret location and police announced the lockdown of the Capitol. Even before the mob reached sealed doors of the House chamber, Capitol Police pulled Pelosi away from the podium, she told “60 Minutes.”“I said, ‘No, I want to be here,’”she said. Back in the House chamber, a woman in the balcony was seen and heard screaming. When they breached the abandoned Senate chamber, they milled around, rummaged through papers, sat at desks and took videos and pictures. These domestic terrorists were in the People’s House, desecrating the People’s House, destroying the People’s House.”___Associated Press writers Dustin Weaver in Washington and Michael Casey in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.

Protesters, newspaper editorial boards and local-level Democrats have urged the lawmakers to step down or for their colleagues to kick them out. The House and Senate can remove members with a two-thirds vote or censure or reprimand with a majority. In St. Louis on Saturday, several hundred people protested against Sen. Josh Hawley, the first-term Missouri Republican who led efforts in the Senate to overturn Biden's election. Johnson initially supported Trump's baseless claims of election fraud, but after the riot, he voted in favor of Biden's win. Perry condemned the Capitol violence.

(Samuel Corum/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON – Wednesday's congressional joint session to count electoral votes could drag late into the night as some Republicans plan to challenge Democrat Joe Biden's victory in at least six states. Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. If they do not both agree, the original electoral votes are counted with no changes.

Under federal law, Congress must meet Jan. 6 to open sealed certificates from each state that contain a record of their electoral votes. The Constitution requires Congress to meet and count the electoral votes. The presiding officer opens and presents the certificates of the electoral votes in alphabetical order of the states. The appointed "tellers" from the House and Senate, members of both parties, then read each certificate out loud and record and count the votes. If they do not both agree, the original electoral votes are counted with no changes.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi administers the oath to members of the 117th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021. The House and Senate were required to convene Sunday, by law, and imposed strict COVID-19 protocols. But by day's end, House lawmakers were hugging and congratulating one another after taking the oath of office in the crowded chamber, an alarming scene during the pandemic. “To say the new Congress convenes at a challenging time would be an understatement,” McConnell said as the chamber opened. House Republicans boosted their ranks in the November election, electing a handful of women and minorities, more than ever.

“I will not be participating in a project to overturn the election,” Sasse wrote. When Congress convenes to certify the Electoral College results, any lawmaker can object to a state’s votes on any grounds. If they disagree, the original electoral votes are counted. Trump and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits challenging election results, and nearly all has been dismissed or dropped. The group of House Republicans has said it plans to challenge the election results from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada.

But members can use the event to object to a state’s votes. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said he organized Monday's session with about a dozen House Republicans who are willing to challenge the results. “President Trump is very supportive of our effort,” Brooks said in an interview late Monday. Trump and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits challenging election results, and nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. McConnell has told Senate Republicans that a dispute over the results in January would yield a “terrible vote” for Republicans.

Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results. “I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said as he opened the Senate. One House Republican, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, is planning to challenge the Electoral College results when Congress convenes for the joint session. John Thune of South Dakota and Roy Blunt of Missouri, warned the senators off any Electoral College challenge, according to one of the people familiar with Tuesday's call. The GOP leaders further warned senators that forcing their colleagues into a vote on Electoral College challenges would prove difficult, especially for those facing their own reelections in 2022.

Then he pivoted, privately warning Republican senators away from disputing the Electoral College tally when Congress convenes in a joint session Jan. 6 to confirm the results. “I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden,” McConnell said as he opened the Senate. Some GOP lawmakers have vowed to carry the fight to Jan. 6 when Congress votes to accept or reject the Electoral College results. One House Republican, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, is planning to challenge the Electoral College results when Congress convenes for the joint session. The GOP leaders further warned senators that forcing their colleagues into a vote on Electoral College challenges would prove difficult, especially for those facing their own reelections in 2022.

He said Monday’s Electoral College vote “was significant.”Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn said barring further legal challenges it appears Biden will be president. Others have said Trump's legal battles should continue toward resolution by inauguration day, Jan. 20. "Once the Electoral College has voted, most people are going to recognize Joe Biden as the president-elect." "Although I supported President Trump, the Electoral College vote today makes clear that Joe Biden is now President-Elect,” said Sen. Many Republicans are unwilling to declare Biden the winner for the same reasons they avoided standing up to Trump during his presidency.

Electors will cast their ballots Monday in the Electoral College and declare the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide winner but also allocates an electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its two congressional districts. The electors are not necessarily bound by law to vote according to the state's results, and there were 10 "faithless electors" in 2016. Can Mr. Trump still challenge the results after the electors vote? December 23: All copies of the electors' votes must be delivered to the recipients.

Electors will cast their votes Monday in the Electoral College and declare the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Maine awards two of its four electoral votes to the statewide winner but also allocates an electoral vote to the popular vote winner in each of its two congressional districts. The electors are not necessarily bound by law to vote according to the state's results, and there were 10 "faithless electors" in 2016. Can Mr. Trump still challenge the results after the electors vote? December 23: All copies of the electors' votes must be delivered to the recipients.

There remains one last-ditch chance for electoral votes to be tossed. On January 6, the Senate and the House will convene to count the electoral votes and officially declare the winner of the election. According to CRS, lawmakers can object to individual electoral votes and state returns as a whole. Hawaii certified its election results on Tuesday, The Associated Press reports, making the 50th state the last to do so. President Trump tweeted support for Brooks after his announcement that he would challenge battleground states' electoral votes.

There remains one last-ditch chance for electoral votes to be tossed. On January 6, the Senate and the House will convene to count the electoral votes and officially declare the winner of the election. According to CRS, lawmakers can object to individual electoral votes and state returns as a whole. Hawaii certified its election results on Tuesday, The Associated Press reports, making the 50th state the last to do so. President Trump tweeted support for Brooks after his announcement that he would challenge battleground states' electoral votes.

President-elect Joe Biden speaks during an event at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, to announce his health care team. Next week’s Dec. 14 Electoral College deadline may produce just a few more congratulatory GOP calls to Biden. Increasingly, GOP lawmakers say the Jan. 6 vote in Congress to accept the Electoral College outcome may be when the presidential winner becomes official. They're relying on Trump voters to power the Georgia runoff elections Jan. 5 that will determine control of the Senate. Until then, his group is trying to push Georgia's Trump voters to the polls, even as the president disputes Biden's win of the state.

The safe harbor deadline is six days earlier. The attention paid to the normally obscure safe harbor provision is a function of Trump's unrelenting efforts to challenge the legitimacy of the election. Judge Stephen Simanek, appointed to hear the case, has acknowledged that the case would push the state outside the electoral vote safe harbor. The safe harbor provision played a prominent role in the Bush v. Gore case after the 2000 presidential election. The Supreme Court shut down Florida’s state-court-ordered recount because the safe harbor deadline was approaching.